


Rain Patrol

by ismellitblue



Category: Doom Patrol, Doom Patrol (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Larry and Rita bffs, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 16:57:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18503179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ismellitblue/pseuds/ismellitblue
Summary: Larry and Rita never make it to Doom manor after their transformations,but they still manage to find each other.





	Rain Patrol

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing but the idea.

After returning from Africa,Rita had tried to fit back in…to shine with the stars,but Hollywood was _not_   a forgiving place.

 _They knew_.

Word of what had happened to her had spread,and though she did  her best to hold herself together-in every agency she walked into,she could see them looking her up and down.Searching for the _deformity,the flaw,the ugliness_ that hovered just beneath the surface.

They never found it(she made sure of that),the one scumbag who’d seen her curse hadn’t lived long enough to  tell anyone about it.Not that it changed anything,they all still refused to hire her.Day after day,audition after audition,she tried,until one day,she saw the cover of a magazine.On it was a blond girl,smiling coyly at the camera.Rita didn’t particularly care for to know her,but the title of the movie drew her attention.

Desert Queen.

A year prior,she’d been promised that role,now it had gone to some fresh face girl who’d probably earned the role on her back(Rita very deliberately ignored the fact that she’d tried doing the same not so long ago).

She left most of her stuff behind,taking only a trunk full of clothes,pictures, jewelry, and awards(essentials only).In the hotel foyer,the receptionist stopped her.

“A call for you madame,a Mr Niles Caulder  wishes to speak with you”Rita stalled,looking at the young woman,she didn’t know that name(and she knew everyone worth knowing in the business) .She made to move forward and take the call(perhaps it was a new opportunity),but no sooner had she taken a step,she felt the telltale give as her knee turned to mush,hidden beneath her long skirt,her leg pooled,chunks of flesh hanging off of it.

Rita stood on the tiled floors for a long while,breathing deeply until her leg felt solid and the bones  could once again take her weight.The girl was still staring, but there was a hint of wariness in her gaze, and not comfortable under such negative attention Rita hurriedly walked away.

Studiously ignoring the girl’s shouts,she made her way out of the hotel(only a three star,she hadn’t been able to stomach the condescending looks of the current A-listers in the five star hotels).Hollywood didn’t want her anymore, but Rita Farr would be damned if she let it kick her to the curb-no one shut the door on Rita Farr-so she’d turn her back on the glitz and glamour,before it gave her the final boot.

Squaring her shoulders,she hailed a taxi,and after stuffing her heavy trunk into the back she hurriedly got in.Looking back, she could still see the girl at the hotel entrance,waving frantically at the cab Rita was in.

It wasn’t quite the final curtain call she’d always hoped for,but Rita,ever the improviser took advantage of the situation.She pasted a huge smile on her face,and her tears came on command as she raised her own hand and waved back,pretending that someone actually cared that she was leaving.

***

Once upon a time when Rita’d thought she could be something she wasn’t, she’d bought a house.It was bigger than necessary for a small family,but she’d loved it and the mini forest surrounding it, so she’d bought on a whim.Not long after,the tiny person she’d bought it for was gone,and the house had become useless…but she’d never been able to bring herself to sell it.

The house was still in relatively good shape,it would need a bit of fixing-something Rita intended to hire some men to do.That idea lasted until she walked past the front door.The moment she was in,the skin melted off her bones,weighing them down and turning them into liquid,leaving her as nothing but a gelatinous splatter on the dusty floor.

She tried for the longest time to get up,but she ended up breaking furniture,her skin crashing against the wood like a wave and  shattering everything.It took hours for her to have limbs again,but even then she had to crawl on the dusty floor.Her breasts and her stomach having merged into one giant ball-dragging her down.That experience alone destroyed all thoughts of letting anyone into the house-she could hold it together for a few minutes at a  time,but there was no way she’d be able to go through hours of people banging around her house without an accident.

***

She ended up buying a pick-up,and every week when she felt solid enough for it she headed into town.The people of Roak stared,some gazes lingered longer than others but Rita ignored them.She went around the stores,buying things until she wound up in the local hardware store-which turned out to be a nightmare.

“You know,you remind me of that actress,the one with the drug habit-Farly-or is it Lorreta?”Rita felt her right leg give,followed swiftly by her left,and she clung to the counter,holding up her body.

“Not that you look like the type of gal, to be into that”Her fingers disappeared  and moving her resisting muscles,she hid her arm beneath her cloak before it completely lost shape.She listed to the side,her height decreasing as her torso fell into the quick sand that was her lower half.The old man didn’t seem to notice however, preoccupied with her purchases and pushing all her buttons without realizing it.

“But I tell you those Hollywood types are all the same-”By now Rita was just a head,her eyes level with the glass display case.

“-Something caught your eye”The face of the store owner appeared in her line of sight and Rita had a moment of wild panic before she realized the man thought she was kneeling.

“Yes,yes,that-um-that thing at the back looks quite lovely”

“This?”The old man(Trevor or something),picked up a metal sheet and Rita readily agreed,despite not even knowing what it was.

“Are ya sure?It’s kinda pricy,I ordered it by mistake, the sheets are made from an alloy of tungsten ,supposed to be healthier than lead-a load of hogwash if you ask me-”

“It looks interesting enough,please ring it up for me-the entire batch”

“The whole batch?!”Doing the math,the old man shut up and got to work(the power of money),then he went out back to tell _the boys_ , to load the stuff onto her truck-giving Rita some much needed time.

***

It took half an hour, and by the time they got back,Rita’s millions were lighter(not that it even made a dent), and she was now the proud owner of fancy metal sheets she had no use for.She passed by the liquor store on her way back,buying only a few bottles of wine,some tequila, a few bottles of whisky and some gin and tonic-just a little reward.

“Expecting guests?”The young woman at the counter asked and Rita stared at her confused for a bit.

“Yes”She finally said,though she didn’t understand the reasoning behind the strange question(she’d have to find another store to shop at-the town was large enough for it afterall).Unloading the sheets took time-something she now had in abundance,and when she was done,she set about fixing the house.

It took six months and more physical labour than she’d done in her entire life but finally she was done.She’d even decorated her room to her liking,with pictures of herself in strategic places(mainly around her mirror-perhaps if she stared at perfection long enough,she’d be able to stick to that form).

As the days passed in her now pristine house,Rita realized she’d made a mistake…she’d been too quick to fix everything.With the house now in working order…there was nothing to do,and that really brought home just how alone in the world she was.

But Rita wasn’t one to mope,so fixed herself a stiff drink, and set about watching one of her films.

 _Goodness,she really was a brilliant actor_.

She went to sleep that night feeling almost normal.The following morning she woke up and pieces of her had oozed off the bed,trailing on the floor covering the plush carpet.

…She didn’t leave her room that day,but she was able to get herself together enough to form an arm and  grab the wine bottle on her nightstand.It took a while to find her mouth,and when the last drop of the red liquid was gone…Rita finally allowed herself to _cry,and cry and cry,and cry_ until she looked up at her window and realized it was once again dark.

Crying didn’t change anything,but Rita found herself doing more of it as the days passed.She stopped going into town,paying instead for deliveries to be made to the edge of her property.The drive there was just about the closest she got to human contact.But she could no longer risk going out.

The longer her condition progressed,the more unstable she became.It had gotten so bad that she’d gone a solid week as nothing but a pile of flesh,dripping through floorboards and  settling as a puddle whenever her mass decided to stop moving. Living alone in the edge of town was boring,yes,but it was safe.She knew the Roak citizens were probably making up stories about her,but she didn’t care.None of their tales could ever measure up to the truth,plus they left her alone,so she consoled herself with that- _that and a good drink of course_.

***

Time passed,she spent most of it as a blob, or going through her movies and clearing out her liquor closet(the cabinet was just too small).

She watched the seasons change, and on days when she felt brave she drove to the edge of her property early and hid amongst the trees,watching the people who delivered her stuff work-seeing other people was nice-even if she couldn’t talk to them. It was on such a day that the pattern she’d created was disrupted.

After getting her deliveries,she’d gotten back in the pick up and was driving along the snowy road(she supposed that it signaled that 1961 was almost over,but she had nothing to look forward to in ’62,so she didn’t really care),in the time she’d been there,she really didn’t go onto the property much,but she knew the areas around the road enough to know when something had changed.Which was why she picked up on the new,snow dusted rock partially hidden by the trees.

There hadn’t been a rock there the week before-she was certain.Getting out of the car, she cautiously made her way to the new addition.Her boots crunched on the snow,and her tendons turned into spaghetti every few steps,but soon enough she was  upon the rock.

It was a very strange rock,Rita was pretty sure that during her isolation,rocks hadn’t turned yellow.To test a theory,she picked up a small stone and gently tossed it at the rock,dislodging some of the snow on it.

***

The rock let out a groan which was met by  startled shriek from Rita.

Gathering her courage(more like curiosity-she was shaking like a leaf),she moved forward,just as the not-rock-it was definitely a human in an unflattering hazmat suit-rolled over.She peered into the transparent mask,and felt her own face droop,her cheeks falling to hang below her chin at the sight that greeted her.

A face burnt beyond recognition,and the burns looked red and raw.Like the man should have been in a hospital instead of passed out in the woods.

Dropping to her knees(and ignoring their soft spongy feel,at least her face had reattached to her skull),she reached for the helmet.After rolling over, the person hadn’t moved at all,and she was worried he’d died in the seconds since that last movement.

The moment she touched it,a gloved hand shot up,encircling her wrist(the grip was very weak though,and she stopped more out of shock that the actual restraint).

“ _Don’t_ ”Pain glazed blue eyes stared in her general direction,and moving on an instinct she didn’t know she possessed, Rita gently patted the hand holding her wrist with her free hand.

“It’s alright,I was just going to take this off-make it easier for you to breathe.The hospital will take it off anyway”At that the stranger tensed,his slack grip tightening as he tried but failed to get up.

“No,no…please, no hospitals,I just need to rest a bit,then I’ll leave, no hospitals,no hos-” Had his eyes been that vibrantly blue earlier,something about then seemed more other worldly now.And Rita quickly dismissed that, focusing on calming the man.

“Alright,no hospitals,and I won’t touch your suit-so how about you just breathe” She took a breath and released,then another,and another until he was matching her(she’d learnt that from her role as a doctor in her fifth film).

When the eerie blue faded from his eyes, and he didn’t look quite so terrified anymore,Rita spoke up.

“My car isn’t far from here,but I need a little help getting you to it,think you  can move?”It was slow going,and the way the man-

“I’m Rita,what’s your name?”

“Larry”-moved told her that the burns were not limited to just his face.She tried her best to hold him up without hurting him,but she could tell it didn’t really make a difference(at least he’d agreed to let her carry the small duffel bag he’d had on him).By the time they reached the house,she had to drag him inside,and that continued as she moved him into the back rooms-the ones closer to the bathroom where she kept her first aid materials.Not that her effort turned out to be useful.

“I can’t take off the suit’Her guest said,his head lolling as he fought off sleep.

“Of course you can, I’ll help”Once again she went for the helmet,but he jerked away.

“ _Dangerous-radiation”_ He rasped.She wanted to ignore his claims as just the ramblings of an injured man,but then she remembered how no one would believe her,about her condition until they saw it,and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

***

There was nothing more she could help him with,so she left him in the room and puttered around the house,unloading the truck and doing a bit of cleaning where she felt it was necessary.Every half hour she went to check on Larry, but he stayed sleeping,not knowing if it would help she threw a quilt over him and placed a sandwich and water on the nightstand for him.She wasn’t much of a cook,and her usual diet was mostly alcohol(a reasonable amount of course),but she supposed the meal was passable.

Two days later,she’d been forced to remove the moldy bread and Larry still hadn’t woken,were it not for the fine mist that formed on the tiny window of his helmet when he breathed,Rita would have thought him dead.

On the third day of her having a guest,things changed… _and not for the better_.

Bright and early in the  blistering cold,there was a knock on the door just as Rita had finished pulling herself together.Robe tightly wrapped around her and with a few touches to her hair(she was still a celebrity after all),Rita rushed through the house,and after a steadying breath,she opened the door.

An very handsome man stood on the other side,and moving out into the cold porch,Rita closed the door behind her.

“Good morning,sorry to bother you so early ma’am”

“I’m agent Biggs,”He held out a badge that had a weird logo on it-the same that was on Larry’s suit.

“A few days ago,a dangerous convict escaped from one of our facilities”

“The man has a tendency to fake burn wounds, and wear a hazmat suit”The agent gave her a warm smile.

“He’s a bit touched in the head”The man brought his fingers to his head and made the universal gesture for crazy.

“If you see him,don’t approach,just call for help,we’ll handle the situation”His warm brown eyes were wide-imploring the frail little woman to do what the big strong man said.

Widening her own eyes and adding a bit of shimmer to them,Rita nodded haltingly making sure her _fear_ ,was apparent.The moment she’d laid eyes on the man,she’d been on edge,as an actress falsehood was second nature to her.She could spot a liar from a mile away,and agent Biggs,in all his charm and good looks _was a liar-_ and as far as Rita could tell-he was the most dangerous kind,the type that believed his own lies.

“I’ll do just that Agent Biggs-please be sure to capture him quickly”

“I can’t bear the thought of scoundrels like that roaming free”She brought her hands up wrapping them around herself,and making sure to shiver.The man gave her another smile,placing a hand on her shoulder before leaving.

“Take care ma’am”

She stayed on the porch,waiting until his car disappeared before heading back inside.

“Thank you”Rita turned to find Larry standing in a shadowy corner,his duffel held in one hand.

“I-I’ll be going now”He straightened with obvious effort, and moved towards the door,but Rita found herself rooted to the spot.

It was none of her business,the man was a stranger,and he had trouble hot on his heels.Something that she really didn’t need in her life-but he was also the first person Rita’d talked to in over a year.

Instead of moving she blocked the door with her tiny frame, and Larry leaned back slightly-confused.

“I can’t let you leave in the state you’re in”His eyes widened at her statement,but Rita wasn’t backing down,she met his gaze head on,her chin tilted in defiance.

***

“Listen Rita-”He paused after saying her name,and she heard him take a startled breath.

“ _You’re Rita Farr-the actress_ ”Losing focus of their argument,Rita preened.Not a single soul had recognized her since she’d left Hollywood, and though she hadn’t wanted to admit it-that had chaffed.

“You’re a fan?”She asked,grinning at him.

Shoulders drooping,he shook his head.

“No,but Jo-a friend of mine is”Hearing that he wasn’t a fan,broke the  spell and allowed her to focus on the issue at hand.

“Any way fan or not,I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I let an injured man wander out into the cold on his own”She crossed her arms for effect,and he heaved a weary sigh.

“Listen, I don’t know why you rescued me,why you lied for me-but I can’t impose on you any longer”

She still didn’t move.Something in the way he spoke,the way he carried himself,reminded her of herself.

“Rita-I’m dangerous,not just because of the men who’re chasing me”

“I have this-look I can’t-Rita I’m bad news,so I’ll just go and you can return to your …holiday/retirement?”

“Do you have anywhere to go,anyone waiting for you?”His shoulders drooped even more and that was all the answer Rita needed.

“You can stay here for as long as you want”He took a step forward,clearly intending to leave.Then he stopped clutching his chest-the eerie blue  from earlier returned to his eyes.

He took deep breaths,his electric gaze going distant as he turned his attention to something other than her.Current danced across his skin and Rita instinctively backed up,remembering too late that the door was behind her-and for the first time that morning-Rita’s condition made itself known.

She watched with drooping eyes as the electricity pooled,collecting in Larry chest,before passing right through his suit.Larry’s form crumpled and she watched the energy take form from her spot on the floor,her skin bubbling as her body did its best impression of watery play dough.

Rita was aware of her edges coming into contact with Larry’s body,but all her attention was on the humanoid form floating above the man’s prone form.It moved down,going horizontal until it was in the region that currently served as her face.

The thing stared at her,and it looked almost pensive-its head cocked to the side as it fixed its unblinking gaze on her.The entity stared for a bit longer before swooping down even lower and growling at her-then as quickly as it came-it was gone,and Larry stirred.

“Rita?”He asked uncertainly and,a gloved hand cautiously prodding her mass.She let out a sigh-half mortified and half resigned-

“I guess you could say we’re both dangerous”She wanted so badly to be anywhere but in that living room,but for once her body was stationary,and she was forced to bear the humiliation-radiation or not,there was no way Larry and his ghost were sticking around after he’d seen how disgusting she was.

Her eyes disappeared into the rolls of flesh,leaving her blind and forcing her to listen to the sound of Larry’s footsteps as he walked away.

When she’d brought him to the house,she hadn’t really considered where  she wanted things to go.But now she realized she’d hoped he’d stay.Rita might have been an award winning actress and eons above all others,but since her _retirement-_ Rita-even though she’d never admitted it to herself- _was lonely_.

A sheet fell around her and Rita startled,her side splashing against the wall,

“Thought you might be cold”Came Larry soft voice,and Rita summoned all the control she could muster(which wasn’t much), and flowed her face from beneath the material, until she was watching Larry.

He hovered uncertainly for a bit before grabbing a cushion from one of the sofas and settling beside her.

“So…”He began,shifting awkwardly until he brought his knees to his chest-the move looking just as pained as the rest-but he settled on it.

“We’re both monsters huh?”They carried on talking until she had the form of a woman again.Going for lighter issues that had nothing to do with what they’d just learned about each other.

***

“What’s with the bag”

“A man gave it to me-I haven’t opened it”

“A man?”

“Yeah, he bought me time to escape,gave me this bag and said we should meet at a rendezvous point”

“Were you ambushed before you could meet up?”Larry shook his head,the movement slow and measured.

“I wanted to go to him-but I couldn’t trust him-he sounded genuine,his actions proved that he meant it-why would he have disabled my tracker otherwise,but I-”He cut off and Rita didn’t press,she herself had been burned too many times to just trust blindly.

“What did he look like”She asked instead.

Larry described him as best he could,from his graying hair,his beard,the faint smell of chocolate that emanated from him,his wheelchair and the half smile he wore even when his features were tense.

“Everything about his demeanor was welcoming,but I couldn’t bring myself to trust him”

“I took a different route and ended up running into some agents”

“How did you escape them?”He made a vague gesture at his chest,and Rita caught sight of the sparks dancing there.

“My _guest_ is always up for a fight”They stayed in silence for a long while until Rita pointed at his bag.

“May I?”He nodded haltingly and she took it,opening it.Of all the things she’d been expecting,having rolls of bandages fall out had not been it.And judging by Larry’s reaction,he hadn’t expected that either,nor had he expected the note that fell from the bandages.

_This should block the radiation._

Setting them aside, Rita pulled out a strange contraption.

“That’s to measure radiation”Larry supplied quietly and she put it away.

The last thing she pulled from the bag was a wooden box and beside her Larry tensed-clearly recognizing  it.He took the box with trembling hands and tapped its side,a small key fell out and he opened the  lock with it.

***

In the box were pictures a badge, and some other things Rita didn’t really pay attention to.

When asked,Larry had admitted  to having a wife and kids,but he didn’t seem keen to talk about them  so she hadn’t pushed(goodness knew she too had things she didn’t want to talk about).But in the quiet of the living room,Larry pulled out a photo from the pile and held it close-clearly having forgotten  that she was there.

She’d caught a glimpse of a smiling man before he’d brought the paper to his chest…and that was all Rita needed to know.

He came back to himself soon after,and quickly gathered the bag and  its contents,nearly dropping a pair of glasses that fell out in his rush.

“…I’ll –just-I’ll be-”He pointed awkwardly at the back room he’d been staying  in and  Rita let him go.

 

***

 “I can’t stay here for free”

“Of course you can-money is no issue”

“It’s not about that Rita-I need something to do”

‘Fine,Larry Trainor-I hereby hire you as my personal chef”

“I can’t cook”

“Well, you best start learning then”That turned out to be one of the best decisions ever made.It turned out not only was Larry a natural in the kitchen-Rita had quite an appetite.Something she hadn’t realized before,she’d always assumed the gnawing hunger was just her insides rearranging.

***

“Where are all my drinks”Rita eyed the empty closet with barely restrained panic.In her hands was an empty glass.She’d been fancying some whisky-but her plans had been thwarted by finding that she’d been looted.

“I put them in the cabinet”

“And they fit?”Larry deciding to stay,had brought her something else to do-she’d helped him knock off walls and replace them with the tungsten alloy she’d been certain would never find a use.At first he’d wanted the room dull and drab,but she’d arm wrestled him into a lighter-if somewhat subdued design.All the work had kept her busy and she hadn’t noticed just how much she was cutting down(not that she’d been overdrinking in the first place).

“Of course it fit”He said it like there was no other way.Like he hadn’t seen the collection of  bottles that littered the backyard.

“Fancy some tea?”She nodded mutely and  he took her hand.

***

One morning she awoke to find breakfast covering the table,and the house empty.She had a moment of sheer terror before she heard  a sound coming from the backyard.Tightening her gown, winter might have passed,but  it still got chilly out,she made her way to the  back of the  house.

‘What are you doing?’She called out as soon as she spotted Larry’s bandaged form(the  bandages,just as the note had  said- _worked_ -and Larry enjoyed them more that the hazmat suit collecting dust somewhere in the  house) .

“Clearing up the  place”His  movements  were a bit slow,he still  got stiff occasionally,but he’d told  her he  was mostly healed-or as  healed  as he’d ever be.

“I want to start a garden”Rita  had never had much of  a  green thumb-but even she had to admit anything would be better than empty bottles stacked so high nothing grew beneath them.She’d kept the house in good order-but the outside had just never  interested  her.

She watched Larry work for a while longer before  heading back inside,her mouth  already watering at the  thought of Larry’s brownies.Perhaps  she’d have the  tray with  a gallon of  milk,or maybe she’d save  the milk for  her five teapots  of the  special tea mix  Larry made.Coming  to the  table,Rita let out  a fond  smile at the sight of not one-but two, gallons  of milk-that man  knew  her so  well.

Deciding to start with the toast,  she pulled  the two loaves worth of bread close  and got to work, moaning  around her  first bite and letting  out  a  little laugh  as Larry let out  a yelp before  the  sound of glass  shattering followed.

***

 Their relationship worked because in a way,they both understood.

“I  killed all the  hospital staff working on me”Larry told her one evening as he sorted through seed packets(he’d decided they were going to be self sustaining when it came to  vegetables).

“I suffocated an  old man  to death,I could have rolled off of him- _I just didn’t_ ”Her face melted at the  confession,but  she didn’t try to hide-that was the beauty of having Larry around.Neither of them had  to hide.

She often had her midnight snacks (set aside by Larry), with the electric entity that lived in him floating around.Some nights she  had to drag Larry from wherever he’d fallen  to somewhere comfortable.

“It didn’t hurt  you  did it?”Larry really didn’t seem to understand how  she continued to survive encounters with  his  companion.

“Maybe it’s leaving me  alone because  I’m not  trying  to  hurt you”He’d looked at her then,his  shoulders drawn  up in a way she’d come  to  recognize as him being disbelieveing.

“You think  its  protective of  me?!”They didn’t  hold back when  it came to  telling  each other  the  truth…the first time she’d unhinged  her jaw  and  gobbled down a  whole  turkey,Rita had been  so  embarrassed she’d tried  to  eat only normal sized portions  from  then on-convinced that she  was  only over eating because  she  was letting  her body get used to huge food quantities.

A week later she’d been  reduced to nothing  but goo,dripping off her bed  and refusing  to leave her  room.Larry had  knocked and then  let himself in.

“You need to eat Rita”he’d said  wearily and  she’d vehemently refused,her mouth  swallowing itself  up  as she spoke.

“I’m no  expert,but  the  more you’ve been eating-the  more  you’ve been able to  keep yourself together”The words had  struck  something  in her,and when Larry had gone out and come back in pushing  a  table  of food,she’d dug  in  with gusto.

They didn’t  talk about  her  meltdown(literally), and in  return she pretended  not to hear the screaming  matches  he had  with his passenger,but she still tried to act as a mediator between them.

***

The end of  ’62 found them in  backyard,a picnic before them for  Rita to eat(thanks to the radiation,Larry could only eat  in his room).Larry’s flowers  glowed  in the  pale moonlight,and  when  the  wind  shifted in their  direction,it  carried  their  pleasant scent  over.

Above them fireworks exploded and Rita  licked sauce  off her  hands(the  spaghetti  had  been phenomenal).

“Do you  miss  it?”Larry began

“Your  old life?”Turning  her gaze  to him,Rita frowned as she thought.

“Not  most of it-but  I  do miss  the big screen,you?”His  shoulders slumped and he  busied  himself with  folding  a  napkin.

“I don’t miss the life, but  I do miss the things  I had,things  I took for granted”

“Like having skin,  being  able to hold Jo-”He paused,catching himself and  Rita decided to  speak  up.

“Can you tell me  about  him?”There was a  startled breath at the prounoun,  followed  by a more measured one  before Larry spoke up.

“His name is John  Bowers,he’s a big fan of  yours-”Rita scooted closer,picking up a chicken  wing-she  liked John already.

***

Somewhere in  the  mid  sixties Rita  picked  up knitting.The faint  click  of the needles calmed  her,and it  gave her something to do  while Larry read beside her.Such  activities came  after their  daily movie watching(all of  which she was  in), and  they brought a sense of  domesticity  Rita’d never had  before.

During the day,Larry cooked and gardened,while Rita cleaned the house,hunting down every speck of dirt until there was  nothing left,then on delivery days she  went  out to get their  supplies(which always contained more food than  alcohol now).

It was boring ,but it  was the closest to normal both of them had.While they went about their daily chores they liked having the television on.The sound acting as background noise( they were together 24/7-it helped to hear other voices other than each  others).It brought with it  a sense  of freedom-a peek  at the  outside world,and  it  introduced  new concepts  to them.

It was through the  TV that  Larry and Rita started meditating everyday.At  first  they’d caught the program,hosted by a  woman in  colorful clothes and flowers  in  her  hair by mistake.They’d ended up spending the  hour  listening to  her,and afterwards,out of boredom,they’d tried out what she said.

It  was new,it was scary…but they were  doing  it.For  the  longest time,Rita had wanted a  place where she could pretend  the world would stay the same-and  she was  certain Larry had too.But the world was  changing,and they had to  adapt,to try new  things,no matter how  terrifying.If there was a  place where things remained  mostly the same,Rita was certain she’d have gone there first,but in her house  with Larry  by her side,they tried  new  things,and she  found  she  appreciated them  more  than  just sitting  around  clinging to the past.

***

By the late  seventies,they’d started on yoga(using  a  new TV-the  old one  had died-and they’d been forced  to  replace it-seeing the  new model had been quite a shock).It was during  a pose(Rita found she  didn’t  struggle as much as Larry-stretching was just easy for her-and  in those moments,she actually felt more in  control of  her  body), that Larry realized something  that  shook  both of  them.

“Rita,how long have I  been  here?”He was struggling to  stay upright,on  one leg.

“Just over  a decade”She  answered,easily  bending back until  her  palms touched  her yoga mat.

“You still look the same”

“Why thank you,that’s kind of  you to say”

“No,I mean,you haven’t aged,not even a bit-but even I don’t feel any different”She paused at that,dropping her stance and settling into the lotus position.Facing her Larry did the same.

“You’re right”She breathed.

“I saw a bimbo  on TV the other day.You remember the one who’d been cast in  a role that had been meant for me before my accident”He nodded,before throwing his head back and rolling his shoulders

“She looked like a prune-at the time I just took her wrinkles as karma-but you’re right.I’m sixt- _almost a certain age_ ,and good genes or not,there’s no way I should look this good”They should have been reacting more to the realization that their bodies were frozen in time,but given all they’d been through-it just felt like Tuesday.

“I’m going for a walk in the woods tonight,do you want to come”She feigned reluctance for a bit,before agreeing.Walking the grounds was always fun,it added a bit of mystery to their lives.

***

The first red rose fell over the tombstone and voice spoke up.

“Rita Farr lived a glamorous life”Another rose fell.

“She did more in a few short years than many do in a lifetime”The speaker was overcome by sobs,and more flowers fell around her,contrasting with her all-black outfit.

“Even towards the end she was still gorgeous, her mind sharp and her acting skills still sublime”

“Now that she’d passed,many are just beginning to realize what a great talent they’ve los-”

“ _Ouch!_ Larry,you’re supposed to throw them on the ground not at me.You nearly poked my eye out”

“Rita,do we really have to do this”The boredom in Larry’s tone was completely uncalled for,he was attending an award winning actress’s funeral,he should feel honored. She’d even gifted him black bandages(they’d been making them on their own since figuring out the chemicals used to treat them).He looked appropriately somber in them.

“Larry as my only friend ,I expect your support during _my funeral_ ”He sighed but continued throwing flowers  as she resumed her crying(his chest glowing in a way that looked as though the entity in him were laughing at his misery).When they’d realized  that it  would get suspicious for Rita Farr to still be young and healthy and dipping into her bank accounts,they decided it was time for her to die.

Her  entire fortune had since been transferred to her long lost grand-daughter—named Rita Farr,after her loving grandmother-the girl in question had moved into her grandmother’s house,and had turned into a hermit as well.It was all rather touching and sad,and throwing a funeral had just felt right.

Later on,after the sun had set on old Rita’s grave,Rita sat on the porch comfort eating,beside  her Larry was reading  a book,looking completely unbothered by the little sniffles she kept letting out.

“We need to start investing-that way,we have more than one source of income,and if anything happens we’ll have back up”He was absolutely right,but he could have at least waited until she stopped mourning.To show her  anger,she finished her pie in  two bites(goodness,why’d he have to be such a great cook) and knocked back a shot of vodka.

***

Rita didn’t know what had tipped them off,all she knew was that she was awakened by the sound of gunfire in the middle of the night.Her window gave way and glass rained down on her,she froze for all of five seconds before her survival instincts kicked in.

Bullets bounced off her body,the moment Rita’s feet touched the floor her arms snaked out,coiling around the two men in her room swiftly snapping their necks.Her arms went rubbery for a bit,but she shook them and they solidified(she’d found after decades of yoga and meditation that control was easier-it was nowhere near perfect, but it was better than blobbing all the time).

She moved to her window and pushed the ladder there,tipping over the men who were trying to get in.Sounds of a struggle reached her from downstairs,and still barefoot she ran to find Larry.She found him at the foot of the stairs,surrounded by a sea of corpses,all of them wearing the same badge- _bureau of  normalcy_.The scene almost looked like those music videos that had been popular when they’d ushered in the new millennium-only with more corpses.

In the other room,she could hear pained screams,blood flowed beneath the door and there were flashes of blue light.She swallowed against the edge to throw up as the door came off its hinges,a very human brain sliding off it.

The negative spirit came through a few seconds later,dragging a few corpses(Larry had wanted to call the being- alien  abomination-but it had caused too much conflict between them,so Rita’d proposed negative spirit-and the being was happy enough with it).It hovered above Larry,but didn’t settle down,instead it aimed  a hand right at  something behind her,the power went out and the dull thwacks of bodies hitting the ground followed.

She could hear more men coming,so she moved forward and grabbed Larry,dragging his body along and making her way to the garage they’d added two decades before.Agents blocked her path and she shot an arm out,her hand piercing through their chests and clearing the path.

“Rita Farr,you are hereby charged with being abnormal-”A voice said from behind  her,only to end in a horrific scream,the negative spirit phasing through the body before it fell.Without wasting any time Rita loaded Larry into the van(the van which good old paranoid Larry kept in working order,and had necessities like spare clothes,money and snacks-she’d often scoffed  at  him when he replenished  supplies,but now  she  was  beyond  thankful).

She  was at the  edge of the property when the explosions began,the ground shaking so bad she  had to stop the car after nearly swerving into a tree.Less than a minute later,the an electric phantom was floating towards her,levitating something behind it.She opened the door and  it made its way in,throwing the  bag it had in the back before  settling into Larry,who took a deep breath as he came to.

***

The  farther they got  from the  house,the  easier it  was to  see the fire, and the  plumes of smoke floating high  above the  trees.

_Sixty years  worth  of memories going up in flames._

“I’m sorry”Larry’s voice was quiet- _sad_ ,and laced with so much shame.

Wiping tears off  her face with one hand,Rita  began speaking eyes fixed firmly on the road.

“Stop that right this instant Larry Trainor,this wasn’t your fault”Her grip on the wheel tightened.

“It wasn’t you-it was me,they came after me”

“If they’d known you and your friend were there,I think they’d have brought more firepower”

“But how did they know?”

“When I left Hollywood,almost everyone knew,I think they decided on just keeping an eye on me to see if the rumors were true”

“And they waited sixty years?!”She shrugged at his incredulity,even she couldn’t believe it.

“We’ll lay low for  little while,they’ll tire of looking for me soon enough”Neither of them brought up the fact that they’d been laying low for over half a century and they’d still been found,it wouldn’t do to dwell on negative thoughts.

“Your friend destroyed all evidence of our stay there-they won’t find anything useful,not  even from the dead agents”

They only stopped when they had three cities between them  and Roak, and even then they made sure to share a hotel room,not used to being apart  after so  long being the only people they ever saw.

In the middle of the night she awoke to Larry talking quietly to the being within him,thanking it.Just as they’d worked on her gaining control,they’d  figured  out that Larry’s entity responded well to positive reinforcement , and though it was sarcastic and spiteful beyond belief,it was also very kind in its own warped way(It turned out that it had taken time to collect their prized possessions before burning everything).She fell back asleep to the sound of Larry’s voice and the quiet cackles that came when he and the being communicated.

***

Come morning both of them were well rested enough to start planning for the future.Thanks to Larry’s paranoia,financially,they were set for several lifetimes(which they might end up living).So all they really had to worry about was what to do next.

“We can stay away from the country-how about a few decades in Africa?”In answer Larry shook his head.

“They’re probably monitoring all flights out of here,expecting us to try and leave”

“So what we just sit around,waiting for them to find us?”Getting off his bed,Larry walked over to the window and pulled back the curtain,checking if their van was still there(thankfully it was,their motel wasn’t the most upstanding establishment out there).

“Maybe we should go on a road trip, see how much the world has changed”He clearly meant it as a joke,but Rita instantly sat up, wading over to him until her legs took a definite form.

“You’re right, I wonder what  Hollywood is like now”She cupped her hands and twirled,unable to suppress her joy at returning even though she hadn’t left on the best of terms.

“Rita,we can’t just go on a road trip,it’s not safe,we coul-”Crisp cackling filled the room,and Rita could almost taste the ozone in the air as Larry brought his hand to his chest,his shoulders slumping.

“Fine,we’ll go on the road trip”More cackling came and the light seeping between Larry’s fingers increased and then dimmed abruptly.

Letting out a squeal,Rita hugged him tight,and despite grumbling about being outvoted and coerced, he hugged her back-the hug lasting longer than necessary as both reaffirmed that they were still alive and well.

***

“Larry,are you sure you know where you’re going”

“Of course Rita,I was a pilot,there are no visible roads up there and I never got lost-how difficult could navigation on the ground be?”Two hours and having nearly driven into a swamp,it was clear that ground navigation was _very difficult_ , and it was at that point that Rita decided to take over.

As it  turned out,Larry was an even worse passenger.

“Stop sighing,you’re breaking my concentration”

“Really, _I’m sorry_ -I wouldn’t want  us to crash,who knows the terrible things that would happen going at  _one mile per hour_ ”

“ _Sarcasm,how original_ ”She bit back ,still keeping her eyes on the road.

“Come on Rita,you went faster when we left Roak,at this rate turtles are going to sue you for taking their job”

“Ha!You know what Larry-”The rest of her statement faded as she spotted a trio of hitchhikers.

They’d passed many hitchhikers since their journey had begun,but this trio looked particularly miserable.

A girl in all black,a young man a wearing what looked to be a child’s toy on the side of his face,and a man in a metal suit,a few feet from them were the smoking remains of a bus.Noticing their approach,the girl moved to stand in the middle of the road, and the tin man followed,which of course caused the younger man to follow.

The trio then proceeded to have a very strange game of tug. By the time Rita covered the seven feet between them(it took a very respectable 10 minutes),they were all piled up on the gravel.Out of curiosity,she and Larry got out of the van and watched the strange spectacle.

***

Somehow, they went from watching the three tussle on the ground,to having them in their van.

“Listen whoever you are,you might have forced your way into this vehicle,but as soon as we get to a gas station-we’re leaving you behind”

“We’re really sorry ma’am,we’re desperate, and you guys are the only people who’ve come this way”

“No need for that Ma’am business,it makes me feel old”She ignored Larry’s scoff.

“I’m Rita, and that’s Larry”

‘I’m Victor,this is Cliff and that’s Jane”The girl in question had somehow changed her appearance and Rita could have sworn she saw electricity dancing on the girl’s nails.Not one to pry,she graciously ignored Cliff’s eyesore of a costume,but Larry had no such qualms.

“So…what’s with the suit?”he asked from the passenger seat.

“Really?!’Cliff exclaimed.

“I would have expected a guy dressed as a mummy to be more understanding-you shot that idea down pretty fast”

“As soon as we find the Chief,he’s going to make up for all the hell we’re going through looking for him”A glance at the rearview mirror showed the girl once again dressed as she was when they’d forced their way into the van-how strange.

A few hours later,she and Larry would be dragged into the search and Rita would be wishing they’d run the trio over and kept on driving(but that was  for hindsight).In that very moment,Victor leaned forward,showing a picture to Larry,which had her long time companion taking in a startled breath.

“His name it Niles Caulder”Rita hit the brakes at that,and both she and Larry,having shared the stories of their lives in what was now a burnt down relic,could only stare in shock.

“Do you two know him?”

**Author's Note:**

> Comment,kudo, what do you think?


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